Key to Umbria: Perugia
 

The Montemelini family, who built this palace, sold it to Diomede degli Oddi in 1639.  The inscription  that was put in place at this time to the right of the palace (at number 9) records that the Oddi family had rights over the piazza and the well (15th century) at its centre.  Until the Second World War, this well, like its predecessors, was fed by water from the Pozzo Etrusco, which is below the palace.

The palace passed by inheritance to the Eugeni family in 1670, and they remodelled its facade. In 1780, Count Eugeni exchanged it for another palace in Via Larga (between Via Bonazzi and Via della Sapienza - see Walk VII) that was owned by the Marquis Uguccione III Bourbon di Sorbello.  The latter moved his large family here, and undertook extensive renovations. 

The palace passed to Ruggero Ranieri (died 1946), the son of Altavilla Bourbon di Sorbello, in 1880, at which point it became known as Palazzo Ranieri di Sorbello.  Ruggero married the American Romeyne Robert (died 1951) in 1902. 

After the death in 1969 of the journalist and diplomat Uguccione V Ranieri di Sorbello, the palace passed to a US foundation that was established in his name.   The current president is Professor Ruggero Ranieri.

The palace, which houses the family’s magnificent library and a permanent exhibition of its art collection, is described in the website of the Casa Museo di Palazzo Sorbello.


Return to Monuments of Perugia.


Return to Museums of Perugia


Return to Walk VI.

 


Casa Museo di Palazzo Sorbello


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